(March 21, 2023) Almost one-quarter of tree species now at risk   Photo: Swamp cottonwood by Matt Reala (iNaturalist). Almost one in four Canadian tree species is now at risk in Canada according to a new assessment by the Wildlife Conservation Society Canada as part of its ongoing SHAPE of Nature initiative to track the health of Canada’s wildlife and wild places.   “For a country so closely identified with forests, this is alarming news,” says Dan Kraus who led...

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(January 30, 2023) In Banff National Park, Castleguard Cave becomes one of the first sites in Alberta to be recognized as a globally significant Key Biodiversity Area (KBA).    Researchers exploring the cave. Image: Colin Magee (Banff, January 30, 2023) — Deep in a remote cave system in Banff National Park is a tiny, largely transparent creature that looks something like a miniscule shrimp. Despite its tiny size, this freshwater amphipod crustacean, known as the Castleguard Cave Amphip...

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(December 22, 2022) The closing plenary of the United Nations Biodiversity Conference, CoP15, in Montreal, December 2022. Photo: UN Biodiversity Convention on Biological Diversity negotiations produce a solid deal that lays the groundwork for more ambitious efforts to address the biodiversity crisis in Canada and around the world. By Justina Ray, WCS Canada President and Senior Scientist Negotiations on a new global deal to save nature reached their tipping point at just about the same time that Lionel...

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(December 15, 2022)   Northern Ontario is one of the last strongholds for a species now considered endangered worldwide  15 December 2022, Montreal — As CoP15 negotiations continue in Montreal around actions to address the global biodiversity crisis, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has issued some bad news on one particular species. In a recent update, the IUCN has announced a change to the global Red List status of lake sturgeon, from “least concern&rd...

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(December 13, 2022) This panel event brought together leaders and partners of the KBA Canada initiative to demonstrate how this collaborative project is assembling biodiversity data and knowledge to identify all Key Biodiversity Areas in Canada, and presented the progress made to date. Panelists described the organization of KBA Canada, collaborations with Indigenous partners across the country, how the project is catalyzing the assemblage and organization of biodiversity data in Canada, Canadian leadership in iden...

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(December 11, 2022)   The 90 minute panel brought together Indigenous leaders, scientists and conservation experts from Canada’s Hudson Bay Lowland and surrounding sea. Panelists spoke to their homelands, irrecoverable carbon stores of the Hudson Bay Lowland, the looming  threat of Ring of Fire mining, global stopovers for North America’s birds, tales of living with polar bears and Indigenous-led conservation in the sea. Dr. Lorna Harris, Forests, Peatlands, and Climat...

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(December 09, 2022)     Wildlife Conservation Society Canada (WCS) Canada scientists seeing this crisis on the ground while working on solutions from coast-to-coast-to-coast  (MONTREAL, December 6, 2022) — The numbers are stark: up to one million species at risk of extinction worldwide, natural ecosystems that have lost half their global area, the biomass of wild animals plunging by 82 per cent, all according to the landmark report released by the Intergovernmental Science-Pol...

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(November 01, 2022) SEATTLE—The Wilburforce Foundation announced today it is presenting one of four 2022 Conservation Leadership Awards (CLA) to Dr. Justina Ray — President and Senior Scientist of Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Canada — for her ongoing work on science-based conservation policy and partnerships with First Nations across northern Canada. “Justina sets a powerful example for bringing science to policymakers in compelling, accessible ways that leads to conservation of cr...

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